Chapter 22

Mairu said, “Well, I mean, it’s incredible! You actually had a direct fight with Shizuo and held your own! It’s like there’s a brand-new hero in Ikebukuro or something, ya know?” “Hero?” “Yes, exactly. This place is always starving for the next story to talk about. If you announce your presence, you could be the entire talk of the streets!” “I don’t really have any intention of doing that,” Yahiro said, his face darkening despite Mairu’s praise. I don’t like being treated like I’m special, whichever way it happens to be. Besides, people called me a monster. It’s beyond silly that I’d suddenly be a hero next. “You don’t? Well, that’s a valid choice, too. I respect that,” Mairu said. “Thank you.” “But I think it’s too late for that.” “Huh?” He raised his face. Mairu explained, “You’ve already had a vivid Ikebukuro debut! You can try to lie low and hide, but the city isn’t going to give you peace.” Ikebukuro—outside of Tokyu Hands “Yo, Yahiro. Took you long enough.” They were at a huge intersection on the far side of Sunshine Sixtieth Floor Street, from the perspective of the train station. Nearby was the entrance to the Tokyu Hands department store, where the foot traffic was constant, day or night. It was a popular meeting spot because of its central location and easy access by subway along the way to the Sunshine City complex. The trio decided to meet at six thirty and talk about what to do next. “Sorry, I got caught in the library.” “Ugh. Was it Kuronuma?” “No, the Oriharas.” “Oh, man, that’s just as bad!” Kuon exclaimed and made a rest in peace praying gesture. Then he straightened up and asked, “So what did they want to talk about? I know they’re all hot and bothered about some idol, so I assume they didn’t confess their undying love to you.” “Yeah, we were just chatting,” said Yahiro breezily, glancing briefly at Himeka. There was no reason to let her know about what happened with Shizuo, he decided. Kuon seemed to pick up on that and didn’t press the topic any further. “Well, our school’s got a lot of problem students, past and present.” “Oh, really?” Yahiro asked. Himeka explained, “It was apparently rather famous for having lots of delinquents up until about a decade ago. It was called Raijin High School back then, but people say the school changed a lot when it became Raira Academy.” “Ohhh…” “Anyway, let’s get walking. I’ll just show Yahiro around the town a bit, so we can go for a stroll, then get something to eat later and hash out our plans. Sound good?” Kuon chuckled, patting their shoulders. The pair didn’t really have a reason to refuse, so they let him push them along. At this time, they didn’t yet realize that a shadow was watching them with clear intent. More than one, in fact. Ikebukuro—thirty minutes later “There aren’t as many people around here, are there?” The trio was on a street a bit farther away from the shopping center. Since they’d just gone through a big tourist spot, Yahiro was a bit surprised at the change. “Well, yeah,” Kuon said. “Ikebukuro’s hardly the only place in the world where a different parallel street might as well be a different city entirely. And it changes completely based on the time of day, too.” “Ohhh.” Up until middle school, Yahiro’s village had been his entire world. Because he knew every street like the back of his hand, the entire place was just my village in his mind, but now that he was in a new environment, even the smallest differences were novel and exciting. His mind was occupied with thoughts of how the crowd density could be so different across such a small space— —when an odd sensation caused him to stop in his tracks. “What’s the matter?” asked Himeka. He didn’t look at her. He was staring at the end of the street they were walking down. “There’s…something.” “Huh? Like what?” Kuon demanded, squinting. It was just a normal alley, no different from any other. But… “…Huh?” In the darkness between streetlight and streetlight, there was shadowy space where it was truly empty, with no storefronts of any kind. And within that darkness was an even deeper dark that stood out in relief. “What is that…?” Yahiro wondered, squinting even harder. He noticed that something was floating within the gloom. It was a yellow full helmet. And thanks to online video sites, it was something that Yahiro recognized. “…!” His heart lurched. The mass of darker shadow was coming closer to them, bit by bit. The thing took in the light of the overhead lamps, but did not reflect it. That just made the darkness stand out more clearly against its surroundings. It was a shape anyone could recognize: a motorcycle. Sitting atop a motorcycle without a headlight or license plate, dressed in a pitch-black riding suit, was something else. The only extra detail of the shadow-shrouded thing was the helmet. In the darkness, it would have looked like a severed head floating in empty space. There was no need to wonder about who this was. Kuon recognized it, and gasped, “No way…” Next to Yahiro, Himeka squeezed sweaty hands and said aloud what they all knew. “The Headless…Rider…” Her eyes were wide, and he could tell that her breathing had quickened. She watched with bated breath, and Yahiro worked through his clattering nerves to ask, “Um…are you all right?” The note of quavering in his voice told him that he was quite agitated, too. But though Yahiro and Himeka wore similar expressions, there was one fundamental difference between them. Behind Yahiro’s shock was elation and hope. And behind Himeka’s eyes was crystallized hatred and fear. The reason he came to Tokyo was right here in front of him. The thing she suspected of abducting her family was right here in front of her. Neither Yahiro nor Himeka expected it would be this easy to find what they’d been searching for. The Headless Rider. The living urban legend. They couldn’t even be sure it was actually alive. Some said it was the vengeful spirit of a motorcycle rider who died in an accident. Some said it was a reaper of the souls of the dead. Some said it was a kind of fairy called a dullahan. Some said it was just a piece of performance art. Some said it was a spirit that had possessed a cursed motorcycle. Some said it was some students playing a prank. Some said it was a fake stunt from a television studio. Some said it was an annoying piece of live art put on by an artist troupe. Some said there was no such thing as the Headless Rider to begin with. It was both a fantasy and an undeniable fact. While they might have had some extraordinary qualities, the three teenagers were just that: teenagers. And now these ordinary kids were faced with this…being. “No way…are you joking?” gasped Kuon, sweat breaking out on his brow. Those words brought Yahiro’s mind back to reality. “Is that…real?” he asked. “What, do you need a fact-check or something?! Well, I suppose there were a number of fakes in the past…” Yahiro glanced over at Himeka, who had regained her composure like normal but was also trembling, nearly imperceptibly. For some reason, this helped him speak with a clarity that was so calm it surprised him. “What now?” “Huh?” “Should we run away?” “Uh…” Some cool, collected words from her friend were just the thing to jolt Himeka into reason, too. “I’m fine. Thank you,” she said, swallowing and slowing her breathing. She clenched her fists and silently stared at the approaching Headless Rider. Kuon looked back and forth between Himeka and the rider and squawked, “Huh? Hey, wait a sec… Is it coming right for us? What should we do? If we’re running, I’m running. But if we’re talking, what do we say?” He seemed slightly more comfortable than the other two, probably because he was from Tokyo and had been familiar with the Headless Rider’s existence for years at this point. But to Yahiro, it was just a fantastical urban legend, and to Himeka, it was the thing that had possibly stolen her sisters away from her. Under those circumstances, there was one natural conclusion: It had come for the lone remaining sister. Yahiro naturally found himself stepping forward in front of Himeka to protect her. At least that way, he would be ready, no matter what the Headless Rider did next. Still, what do I do? The sweat beaded up on Yahiro’s forehead. If it really attacks…can I fend it off? He’d dealt with plenty of human opponents. For as frightening as the thug with the katana was, he’d managed to get past him safely. But in all his life, he’d never faced off against a giant scythe fashioned out of writhing shadows. What if it started swinging around like in the videos online? How should he avoid it? The mental image of what would happen if he failed sent a horrible shiver down Yahiro’s back. That instantly sharpened the concentration of the cowardly boy, revving his brain into maximum capacity and anticipating all possible situations to prepare for them. But no sooner had it started than it stopped, just as quickly. The action that the Headless Rider took next, barely six feet away from the teenagers, was completely outside of anything he was imagining. “Um, excuse me.” Out of the riding suit so unreflective that it seemed to be made of pure darkness, the Headless Rider pulled out a smartphone, typed a rather anticlimactic sentence in Japanese, then turned the phone around to show them. “Do you have a little time? I promise, I’m not trying to recruit you for some cult. I won’t take long.” “…” “…” “…Huh?” Kuon and Himeka were frozen in place. Yahiro’s mind went momentarily blank. It took several seconds before he realized that he was the one who had said something. Then, with a start, he reassessed what was happening around him. The Headless Rider, that anomaly, had pulled out an undeniable tool of modern civilization: a smartphone. Its smooth touch panel shone bright in the darkness, declaring its tiny presence. It seemed even brighter than usual because it was surrounded by unreflective pure blackness. “Ummm…” Yahiro still hadn’t fully recovered from his prior assumption of an attack, and the thought occurred to him that this could just be a ruse to lure them into letting their guards down. Cautiously, he asked, “Wh-what is it?” “Um, sorry, actually, I wanted to ask the girl there,” the rider typed, rather matter-of-factly. The next message was “Am I correct in assuming that you’re Himeka Tatsugami?” “!” She was shocked and briefly confused—but within a few seconds, she understood the implication of the question and glared with renewed wariness at the rider. “Are…are my sisters all right?” she asked aggressively, assuming that this figure was either here to kidnap her next or to state the demands in exchange for freeing her sisters. “What…do you want?” Her words suggested her default calmness, but Yahiro noticed there was just a slight tremble in her voice. Still, the rider hastily waved a hand and showed them the screen from a distance. “I had a feeling you’d say that. Please don’t get the wrong idea about me.” Apparently, the Headless Rider had anticipated their suspicion and was maintaining a distance of six feet. The figure increased the font size to facilitate easier communication at that range. “I’m very thankful that you didn’t run away.” “…?” “I’ll just state this first, for the record, that I am innocent of any abduction allegations,” the Headless Rider typed, cutting right to the point. The situation was about as suspicious as it could possibly be. The group just stared at one another without a word. A bicycle just so happened to pass by at that moment, but at the sight of the inhuman creature, the longtime resident of Ikebukuro merely muttered, “Whoa! It’s been a while,” before continuing on his way. All the tension had gone out of the scene. Himeka murmured, “No way…” “Yes way. I have no idea what’s occurred with the kidnappings.” “That can’t be true. My sisters…,” she said, her voice hard but expression still the same. The Headless Rider’s disarming, friendly attitude must have left her feeling more confusion than anger or fear. “That’s why I’ve come to see you, Himeka Tatsugami.” “Huh…?” “Will you tell me more…about your sisters?” And then, once again, the Headless Rider typed something they were not expecting to read. “I want to help you rescue them.” A moment later, Kuon finally found his voice. “Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa! This doesn’t make any sense!” “Kuon?” Yahiro turned to him. “Hey, c-c’mon, let’s calm down! Everybody just chill out! Okay?” “You’re the one who’s freaking out, Kuon.” Kuon ignored him and tried to put the situation into context. “What’s the deal here? We were looking for the Headless Rider, right?! But it was actually watching for us and came to us first?!” Kuon was rambling on a mile a minute—probably due to anxiety. “And then it’s like, ‘Oh man, so it’s true that if you go searching for the Headless Rider, you get kidnapped by the rider! We’re done for! It’s all over!’ but then it pulls out its smartphone to talk to us?! And that’s the newest model, too! Is this really the real Headless Rider?!” “It’s wearing clothes that don’t reflect light, riding on a motorcycle with no engine noise. There’s no room for doubt. No impostor is going to be able to get that kind of supernatural gear, and even if it was fake, the motorcycle seems legit. They’d have to be connected to the real thing and therefore worth talking to anyway.” “Wow, Yahiro, you’re so rational it’s kind of infuriating!” Kuon said, exasperated. “…” Yahiro didn’t respond. There it is again. It’s that feeling I got…that Kuon is putting on an act of some kind. He’d noticed the way his friend could act unnaturally at times, but he hadn’t expected to feel it here and now, of all situations. However, without understanding the point of it, Yahiro had no choice but to let it go for now. “I’m glad you’ve decided to take me seriously,” said the Headless Rider, who hadn’t noticed anything strange from Kuon. It tilted its helmet into a quick bow, then showed the smartphone to Yahiro. “Thank you. Are you local? You appear unfazed by my presence.” “Actually, I’m not,” Yahiro said, unable to bring himself to say that he had come all the way from Akita to see her. What should I do? This isn’t what I expected would happen. In fact, the mental image he possessed of the Headless Rider had come completely crumbling to the ground from this experience. But then another memory flitted into his head. Oh, hang on…I feel like this actually matches up with the way Akane and Mairu described the Headless Rider back at the dojo. Plus… He also recalled what Shizuo Heiwajima said, feeling a twinge from the bruises that he thought had healed by now. “She ain’t the kind of person who abducts people and brings sorrow to the world.” That’s right, he did say that. And if she’s the way he described her, that would do a lot to explain this situation right now. Yahiro felt he was close to finding the answers to all his questions, but Himeka was only getting more confused. She wasn’t visibly fazed, thanks to her innately level personality, but that expressionless iron mask she wore still had tints of consternation in it right now. “What are you saying? That you didn’t kidnap my sisters…?” “Well, it’s the truth. I didn’t do it. I don’t have any proof of that, so you’ll have to believe me.” “Then let’s talk with the police about it.” “I can’t deal with the police. I don’t have a license. If I get arrested for these false charges, I’m in big trouble,” the Headless Rider typed, looking momentarily deflated. “Anyway, I want to rescue the people who’ve been abducted so that I can restore my honor. If there’s someone posing as me out there, I need to catch them and bring them to justice.” There was no way to see the Headless Rider’s expression behind the helmet. In fact, there shouldn’t be one at all. But somehow, Yahiro felt like he could sense the passion behind the Headless Rider’s text. And above all else, the three teenagers shared one sentiment about the urban legend in the flesh: She’s…friendly. Surprisingly friendly! “Well, anyway, what is it you want from Tatsugami?” asked Yahiro, who had the most composure of the three. The Headless Rider’s helmet tilted forward, and she started to type something. However… In the distance, there was a sound like a motorcycle engine revving, and then they could see something racing toward them at high speed. “Huh?” In fact, it was a line of three bikes front to back, weaving left and right like they were one long dragon as they rode down the street. “A biker gang?” The trio sidled over to the side of the alley, hoping to avoid any trouble as the bikers passed. But instead, that seemed to be what the bikers were hoping for. The three motorcycles slowed down as they approached and stopped in a semicircle, blocking the teenagers against the wall. The riders got off their wheels. The man in the lead looked to be about twenty years old, while the other two were young women. At first glance, though, Yahiro thought all three of them were girls. When they pulled their helmets back to expose their faces, the man’s features were so fine and beautiful that it was enough to fool Yahiro. His shining black hair was tied at the back of his head. After a brief, cautious examination, the bone structure and slight bulge of the Adam’s apple helped Yahiro identify the leader as a man, but the distinction was slight enough that it wasn’t just him—plenty of people would make the same mistake. “…Ugh!” Kuon grunted as he focused on a completely different detail about the trio. There were distinctive stickers on all their vehicles. Stickers like white snake bones—but which on closer examination had arms and legs. The design of a dragon skeleton. “It’s Dragon Zombie…” “That’s correct,” the man in the lead replied with a little chuckle. The man had a dragon-themed tattoo around his neck, which was a much more menacing complement to his delicate facial features. He did not look like an upstanding member of society. The man glanced at the Headless Rider briefly before turning to Yahiro. “?” When he became aware of the man’s gaze, Yahiro’s hackles rose again. Then the man turned to the women behind him and said lazily, “This one?” “Yes. That’s him, Libei.” “That’s the boy,” said each of the women in turn. The man they called Libei grinned and looked at Yahiro again. “Good evening, then.” “Er…um, good evening,” Yahiro said, bowing politely on instinct. He could hear Himeka murmur, “That’s a man?” She must not have realized that until she heard his voice. “It’s nice to meet you. And to think that we encountered each other for the first time right in the presence of the Headless Rider. What a strange connection we’ve made.” He threw a glance at the rider again, sounding very casual. But he was about to send ice water through Yahiro’s veins. “I hear you’re very strong.” “Huh?” “Strong enough to beat Shizuo Heiwajima in a fight.”